Iran, P5+1 to set date for talks soon

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (R) talks to reporters in a joint news conference with his counterpart from Guinea-Bissau, Faustino Imbali, in Tehran on April 28, 2013.

Press TV-(Sun Apr 28, 2013) Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has called on the representative of the P5+1 group of six world powers to contact Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and set the date and venue for a new round of talks.

“We hope Ms. [EU foreign policy chief Catherine] Ashton will keep her promise to contact Mr. [Saeed] Jalili so that international community will judge her positively,” Salehi said in a Sunday joint news conference with his counterpart from Guinea-Bissau, Faustino Imbali, in Tehran.“…During Almaty 2 talks [on April 5-6], Ms. Ashton announced that after consulting with the foreign ministers of the P5+1 member states, she will contact Mr. Jalili again to inform him of the outcome of her consultations,” he added.Ashton leads diplomatic contacts with Iran on behalf of the P5+1– the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia plus Germany.Iran and the P5+1 have held several rounds of talks mainly over the Iranian nuclear energy program. Before their second meeting in Almaty, the two sides had already met in the Kazakh city on February 26-27.The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Using this false allegation as pretext, Washington and the European Union have imposed several rounds of illegal unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.Tehran rejects the allegation over its nuclear energy activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.